Designing your Spring/Summer Garden

Designing your own garden can be rewarding and educational and you don't need to be a Landscape Architect to do it! Using the principles enumerated in our recent post, Planning your Spring/Summer Garden you can begin to turn your ideas into a physical reality.


To get started, grab a measuring tape and record the dimensions of your garden. Then use a ruler and a piece of sketch or graph paper to draw the outline of your garden. To draw your garden to scale, assign a certain length to equal one inch. For example, if your garden is twenty feet long, you can set 1 inch equal to two feet. Using graph paper is even easier because the quadriles are already on the page. Also, if you're interested in creating your design online instead of on paper, you can use free design tools like Google Sketch-Up to create your garden.

After the outline of your garden is drawn, you can create stencils or symbols to represent your plants. If you would like, you can buy gardening or landscaping stencils, or you can go online and download pre-made symbols (see the link below for gardening symbols). Just print the symbols on card stock, cut them out, and use them to trace your design.

Before you begin populating your garden with symbols, remember to make a plant key! A plant key is very important because it will help you organize your ideas and your design. It is invaluable when it's time to start planting, because it is difficult to remember the ideal location for every plant and your helpers can find the plant location directly from the chart.

After your outline, symbols, and key have been made you can begin to design your garden. Remember to keep the principles we have recently discussed in mind: intercropping plant species, incorporating pollinator-friendly and pest-deterring plants, and crop rotation (to confuse pests). Also, keep spatial and height elements in mind when planning your garden. Taller plants and those that need trellising should be placed near walls or toward the back of the garden so they do not block the sunlight needed by low and medium height plants.

Remember to add some color to your design. Shrubs and vines can be given a dark green color, while sunflowers can be bright yellow. A garden design is a practical way to organize a garden, but it can also be a fun way to get your creative juices flowing. Your final design can become an artful homage to your edible landscape!

Photo of garden design courtesy of Chris Kreussling



Try using some of these symbols from the University of Minnesota: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sustland.umn.edu/design/images/landscapesym2.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.sustland.umn.edu/design/lanscapesym.html&usg=__HDT3tT0S076F0OirIIEK8QS6b28=&h=770&w=600&sz=57&hl=en&start=5&zoom=1&tbnid=Gb4v_FnVJOpKfM:&tbnh=142&tbnw=111&ei=Ia0ZT9-WDurg0QHW_e3fBA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dplant%2Bsymbols%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7ADFA_en%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1

Winter Garden Maintenance

The middle of January is a good time to do a little maintenance on your garden, even if you're not actively growing crops. Think of it this way: if you get a head start now, you'll have less work to do in the spring and summer. Here's a list to follow:

1) Weed your garden. Winter weeding is one of the best things you can do to ensure a successful yield in the summer. Most weeds sprout up in the winter, germinate in the spring and summer, set seed in the fall, and die when cold weather hits. If you can pull the weeds (or inhibit their access to sinlight) in the winter, then you have limited their chances of reseeding. Also, the longer a weed sits in the ground, the more time it has to establish roots, making it more difficult to extract. The moral of this story: pull weeds early and often.

2) Turn your compost. We all took our plant clippings, vegetable trimmings, and leaves and threw them into our compost bins at the end of the summer, but most of us probably forgot to turn our compost bins. If material has been in your bin since August or September, chances are it has already started decomposing. Give it a good turn and give those microdigesters some oxygen so you can have plenty of compost in the spring.

3) Prepare your gardening tools. If you're like me, you probably left a couple of tools outside and they've turned a nice shade of rust by now. Pick up your tools, clean them off (you can use a brilo pad or sand paper to scratch away at rust), and organize your tools. You might even want to get a head start and see if your local garden supply store has plant food that you can stock up on.

4) Stock up on seeds and trays. One of the many benefits of living in California is the immense amount of sunlight and good weather. So Cal gardeners can start a seed tray as early as January and be ready to plant by mid-March. Just remember to keep your seedlings inside by a window so they can be shielded from any unexpected weather. Also, if your local garden supply store doesn't have seeds yet, you can also go online and order them.

5) Prepare and repair. If you garden in pots, now is a good time to get rid of your old soil and give the inside of your pot a good scrubbing. Cleaning the inside of a garden pot is suggested so you can kill any mold or bacteria living on the walls of the vessel. Or if you garden in plant boxes, make sure boxes are in good condition. Finally, if you prefer in-ground planting, add soil additives like lime or clay conditioner today.

Good luck with your gardens!

Planning your Spring/Summer Garden

The middle of winter is a good time to plan your garden. Good planning can help you avoid pest issues and ensure a good yield over the summer.

How to plan your spring/summer line-up:

• Rotate your crops. Pests, molds and viruses love it when the same crops are planted in the same location year after year because they don't have to go far to get their favorite food. Also, know which familes your plants belong too. Plants in the same family, such as the Nightshade family (tomatoes, eggplants, and potatoes) or the Brassicaceae family (broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussel sprouts) tend to attract similar insects, so it's a good idea to mix these up a bit.


• Intercrop. As we learned from the Integrated Pest Management post (http://ieuagies.blogspot.com/2011/12/integrated-pest-management.html), intercropping reduces garden pests by limiting the amount of any one plant type found in the same area. Additionally, intercropping refers to the strategic planting of pest-repelling plants, such as marigold, garlic, and certain herbs (dill and mint) to ward off infestation.


• Attract beneficial insects. Remember to incorporate flowering plants for pollinators and clovers, mustards, dill, and chives for ladybugs. These plants can be intercropped with vegetable plants to act as companion plants.


• Good timing leads to better yield. In a well-planned garden, you can often increase your yield if you incorporate the plant's 'time to maturation' into your time schedule. In the case of tomatoes, there are three varieties: early maturing plants (40-55 days: Early Girl & Early Wonder), mid-season plants (56-75 days: Better Boy & Celebrity), and late-season plants (76-95 days: Brandywine & Cherokee Purple). Planting some of each variety will ensure that you have tomatoes all summer long and well into the fall. Check the information on the seed packet to determine the time to maturation for vegetables.

After you decide which plants you would like to incorporate into your garden you can begin to draft a design for the space. See our upcoming blog post: Designing your Spring/Summer Garden to get inspired.

Integrated Pest Management

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a pest control method which incorporates ecological principles into pest management practices. Gardens are full of insects, some are considered beneficial because they act as pollinators, decompose organic matter, or eat pests. However many of the critters and insects in gardens are considered pests, which the IPM program of the University of California defines as "organisms that damage or interfere with desirable plants...(they) also include organisms that impact human or animal health."

In the picture below you will find a lady bug and several aphids. Aphids are soft-bodied insects that feed on the sap of plants; they are considered pests because they damage the ability of the plant to provide nutrients to its leaves. Aphids also accumulate rather quickly, so if one is found, many more will follow. Luckily, aphids can usually be removed by spraying them off with water or hand picking. Larger infestation issues can be resolved with homemade garlic or pepper sprays.

Photo of ladybuy and aphids courtest of Dave Gunn
IPM is a targeted approach to reducing pest populations and is based on the following principles and techniques:
1. There is an acceptable level of pest population. Prior to commercial agriculture many farmers accepted that they would lose a small percentage of their yield to pests. Over time, the standardization of more potent pesticides and elaborate applications (such as crop dusting) changed the expectation of commercial farmers. IPM developed as an alternative to widespread pesticide use in the 1950s throughout the US, when indiscriminate field spraying began to occur on commercial agriculture sites.

2. Preventative cropping and cultural practices. There are several techniques that gardeners can do to reduce pests naturally. A method called intercropping places different plant species next to each other in the garden, rather than planting the same species together. A variety of bugs will be attracted to the different plants, reducing the possibility of an invasion. Plants that attract beneficial organisms (those that deter or eat pests) should be planted throughout the garden. Another method to reduce pests naturally is to plant peppers in between plants. Pepper plants are high in capsaicin and are helpful in deterring mammalian pests.

Photo of habanero peppers courtesy of Amy Kay Watson

3. Monitoring. Monitoring is the key to success with IPM practices. Careful observation and identification of which species are harming the garden will allow the gardener to determine the best method of pest control.

4. Appropriate control mechanisms. There are essentially three control mechanisms used in IPM: mechanical, biological, and limited pesticidal controls. When pest populations are low and localilized, mechanical controls (such as hand-picking or water spraying) can remove pests best. Biological controls include the use of natural sprays, intercropping, and incorporating plant species that attract natural enemies of pests. Finally, limited pesticidal controls are used when both mechanical and biological controls have failed. A targeted application of a pesticide may be used to reduce the pest population.

You can practice Integrated Pest Management in your school's garden. In late January/early February, start planning your garden. This is easily done by tracing an outline of your planting area and creating symbols for different plants. Incorporate the concepts of intercropping into your garden design. Also, try to include nectar-producing plants which tend to attract a variety of pest enemies naturally. Other plants to try: marigolds, peppers, and garlic.

For a list of plants to combat particular pest species see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_repellent_plants

For more information on IPM: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/GENERAL/whatisipm.html

The Radish Density Experiment

Radishes are the edible root of a rapidly germinating plant of the Brassicaceae family. In fact, the word radish derives from the Greek word Raphanus, which literally means to "appear quickly". Most radish varieties take 25-30 days to mature from seed to full-sized root. Like many edibles in the Brassicaceae family, they also thrive in cooler temperatures, making them the perfect seed to use in a winter experiment.

Photo of radishes courtesy of Allison P. (Worldharmony)

CONCEPTS:

This experiment should help students understand the ideal population densities for radish crops and prompt them to hypothesize how nutrient uptake and availability is impacted by population density.

-Population density (plants): Can be defined as the amount of plants contained within a spatial parameter (e.g. the number of radish plants in one square foot). Population density studies are often referred to as "crowding" studies. In this case we are examining plants, but population density is a ubiquitous topic in biology and can refer to any organism, even humans.

-Nutrient uptake and availability: Refers to the amount of critical elements, such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, as well as water and sunlight, that are readily available to the plant and the ability of the plant to procure those elements from the environment. Uptake and availability can be severely impacted by plant density as competition between plants increases with higher densities.

PROCEDURE:

To do the experiment you will need radish seeds, a planting area with at least 24 square feet (this can be noncontiguous-raised beds or pots are fine), a ruler, and a scale.

-Section off six 2 ft. x 2 ft. areas, for a total of six 4 sq. ft. sections.

-Two of the 4 sq. ft. sections will be used for 1-inch planting densities, two sections will be used for 2-inch planting densities, and the remaining two sections will be used for 4-inch planting densities.

-Use the ruler to help you plant seeds and space them according to the image below. If you are planting the 4-inch density section, make sure each seed is equidistant from the other seeds. Use the image below as a guide:

-Once the seeds are planted, be sure to water each section at the same time and with the same amount of water. You can also use the planting guide on the back of the seed packet to identify ideal watering and planting conditions.


-Take notes on how the plants grow at one week intervals and use these observations to hypothesize which planting density is best for radishes.


-After thirty days, make your final observations about the growth of the plant and pull the radishes, but be careful to keep each section separate.


-Next, weigh each section individually using a scale and record your values.


QUESTIONS:


Based on your findings, can you determine which density was ideal for radishes? How did your hypothesis based on your observations differ from your final results? Did the density of the radishes appear to have any effect on the weight or total amount of radishes in each section? Were the findings between similar sections identical or did they vary?

Dormancy and Vernalization

Over time many plants and trees have developed strategies to protect themselves and to thrive in their particular climate. Two such strategies, which usually occur in tandem are dormancy and vernalization. Dormancy refers to a period of time when the organism physically stops growing; this is typically done to conserve energy during the colder months of the year or to protect itself from adverse environmental conditions. Plant and tree dormancy that occurs in response to environmental conditions is called consequential dormancy, and predictive dormancy occurs when an organism's natural biological cycle anticipates a weather change and promotes dormancy in advance. During dormancy deciduous plants will lose all of their leaves and evergreens suspend growth. The picture of the white birch tree below shows a dormant tree that has lost its leaves and is essentially "hibernating" through winter.

Photo of dormant white birch tree courtesy of Jilly Clardy

Vernalization refers to the period of cold weather exposure experienced by plants and trees, which actually enables them to set buds and produce fruit when warmer temperatures arise. To clarify, dormancy refers to the suspension of the organism's growth in anticipation or response to environmental change, while vernalization refers to the plants ability to set flowers or produce fruit after dormancy in a direct response to cold weather exposure. If you have stone fruits like peaches and plums or even apples, these all need a vernalization period for them to be able to bear fruits. This is why it is more common to see stone fruits and apples in the Inland Empire than it is too see them along the coast.


Vernalization was discovered after many years of observation by agronomists and plant physiologists. A pioneering researcher in this field, Russian agronomist Trofim Lysenko, coined the term 'vernalization' and he also developed methods to manipulate plants which require vernalization to induce early production by artificial exposure to cold temperatures. In fact, Lysenko is credited with saving millions in Russia during a long, cold winter by being able to germinate winter wheat crops ahead of schedule, making food available in the spring instead of the summer.


*You can observe the process of dormancy at your own school. Take a few moments to observe the plants and trees in the garden and note which have lost their leaves and which have not.


*In one of our previous posts we discussed the citrus tree and its unusual characteristic of fruting in winter while many plants are dormant. Do some research to determine if, or when, the citrus tree experiences dormancy.


For more reading on dormancy and vernalization, please see the following websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dormancy


http://ahs.org/publications/the_american_gardener/pdf/0405/Everyday_Garden_Science_51.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernalization

Winter Fruiting Citrus Trees

Photo Courtesy of Andy Jien

In a previous blog post, we talked about two of the few fall fruiting trees, Persimmons and Pomegranates. Today's blog will be about citrus trees, some of the few winter fruiting trees. Citrus is a commonly used term that refers to several of the flowering varieties of the genus Citrus; the fruiting trees included within this genus are: lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and most species of kumquats.

Some of the earliest species of citrus trees are believed to originate from Southeast Asia near the area bordered by Myanmar (Burma), Northeast India, and the southwest corner of China (Yunnan province). Citrus trees were brought over to Europe from Asia and many of the citrus trees we see in California are decendents of the ones grown in the mediteranean regions of Europe. Citrus trees were commonly grown throughout Southern California around the turn of the century and well into the middle of the twentieth century; in fact, citrus fruit production is what attracted many of the first settlers to the Inland Empire and Orange County (appropriately named after the orange). Throughout human history, citrus have been cultivated and revered not only for their culinary properties, but their health benefits as well.

Citrus trees come in many different sizes and colors. There are standard varieties which grow to be approximately15-25 ft. in height, semi-dwarves are roughly between 8-15 ft. tall, and dwarves (which are the variety at most of the IEUA's school gardens) are about 4-8 ft. tall. Citrus trees begin to flower in the fall and by December most of their fruit have developed. They need a diurnal winter to change color, so our Mediterrenean climate is perfect for witnessing some of the beautiful colors of some citrus species. Some citrus trees grown in tropical locations never experience cool temperatures, which makes them stay green year round even when ripe.

If you live in an area that is near the Inland Empire Utilities Agency (Chino, Montclair, Ontario, Upland, Rancho Cucamonga), then it is likely that citrus trees have played a role in your city's history. As a fun project, have your students research the role that citrus played in your city. Try to find out which species of citrus were grown in your area and by whom.

For more reading on citrus and its role in Inland Empire history, please see the following websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citrus                   Time line of Citrus in the Inland Empire: